Morning Brief — August 23, 2013

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In Egypt, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood called for a “Friday of Martyrs,” marking a week after the army’s crackdown that killed hundreds, perhaps far more. At the same time, Bahraini opposition groups including Islamists, liberals and nationalists have called for a day of pro-democracy protests.

Britain, it appears, runs a super secret $1.56-billion listening post somewhere in the Middle East, The Independent newspaper reported today. Data gleaned from the monitoring station is then passed onto Britain’s eavesdropping agency (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, England, and shared with the U.S. National Security Agency.

Back in Canada, eavesdropping on suspected terrorists hit its highest levels in five years in 2012, despite an overall decline in applications by police for permission to use electronic surveillance. According to the Annual Report on Electronic Surveillance, tabled quietly in the House of Commons this week, the government issued 21 authorizations last year to conduct electronic surveillance related to participation in the activity of a terrorist group, up from 18 in 2010 and only one in 2011.

And, not directly related, but here goes: Bradley Manning starts his first full day living as a woman, named Chelsea. Just one day after receiving a 35-year sentence, Manning announced that she plans to live out the rest of her life as female. “I am Chelsea Manning,” the former intelligence analyst told supporters in a statement provided by her lawyer. The issue of gender identity came up during Manning’s trial when the defence suggested that the soldier’s struggles with it were a contributing factor in the decision to leak the 700,000 classified files.

How do we waste nearly 40 per cent of all of our food? In the final part of a three-part series (click here to see Part One and Part Two) on the environmental impact of food by Kelsey Johnson, iPolitics takes a look at the role retailers and processors play in the sustainability debate.

Speaking of the PM, he is in Nunavik, Quebec today, on the tail end of his west-to-east sweep North of 60. Today, he visits a mine. Expect pictures of hard hats and heavy machinery. The move can likely only strengthen Harper’s standing in Quebec which is beginning to inch upward again after two years in the doldrums.

We’re three weeks into August, meaning it must be the day Statistics Canada releases data on the consumer price index for July.

Tony Clement, president of the Treasury Board, will meet with the members of the Hamilton, Ont. business community to discuss the federal government’s efforts to cut red tape for businesses, keep taxes low and create jobs.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations sign bilateral protocol in Saskatoon committing both parties to work together.

In Featured Opinion this morning:

Tasha Kheiriddin has a simple question: Why are the Conservatives and New Democrats dismissing the Quebec government’s plans to slap a blanket prohibition on religious symbols — more red meat for the province’s xenophobes?

Bradley Manning is going to prison. But the baby-faced soldier who fed Wikileaks classified information left the courtroom with his head held high — having forced Americans to confront U.S. government abuses committed in the name of national security, writes the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank.

Thanks to the machinations of Russia and China, we may never learn the truth behind reports of a massive chemical attack on civilians attributed to the forces of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, reports Foreign Policy’s Colum Lynch.

President Obama’s most durable legacy might turn out to be the $100 million in federal funding backing the BRAIN Initiative, an ambitious effort to discover the roots of human consciousness, writes the Washington Post’s George Will.

Being an economist means never having to say you’re sorry. Bloomberg’s Mark Buchanan reports on how the ‘dismal science’ is doing semantic backflips to explain the terrifying market meltdown of 2008 — without admitting that neoliberal market theories might have been wrong in the first place.

Plagiarism alert: if you have a spare 10 minutes and want to see how compelling a self-assured future engineering nerd can be, have a look at this. Just know that, well, sometimes the best ideas are … ah … borrowed, tough later credited on Facebook. Still, it’s fun watching if you’re stuck inside.